Kwanzaa Lights
Photo from my families Kwanzaa display.
Photo from my families Kwanzaa display.
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Jan, 2021Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I created this image titled "Kwanzaa Lights", in my home studio here in Virginia, USA.Time
I'm a night owl and get my greatest inspiration late nights into the early morning hours. A quiet time with the least distractions.Lighting
I wanted the candle light to set the mood of this photo. So I shot with a high ISO of 10000 and no other lights.Equipment
My camera is the Nikon D7200. The lens is a Nikon DX zoom 18-55mm, 3.5-5.6G. ISO 10000, f5 and 1/50s. Hand held, no tripod and no flash.Inspiration
My family celebrates Kwanzaa, the African American celebration of culture and heritage from Dec 26th - Jan 1st. We usually attend several public community Kwanzaa celebrations but due to the COVID pandemic these public celebrations did not take place this year. So my husband and I decided to share our own Kwanzaa celebration with the public via Facebook live. We went live in Facebook for all seven nights teaching the 7 principles of Kwanzaa. I chose to create a collection of different ethnic images for each night of our live Kwanzaa presentation. This image, "Kwanzaa Lights", was in honor of the 6th day of Kwanzaa where the principle of "Kuumba" is taught which means creativity. And as fine art photographers, creativity is what it's all about.Editing
This image required very little post processing. I like using the photo editing and design software PicMonkey. Here I slightly adjusted the highlights and contrast to get the candle flames just right.In my camera bag
I enjoy outdoor photography and I want to be as ready as possible for whatever I may come across. I always have my 18-55 f3.5-5.6G zoom and my 55mm 1.8G prime. They will cover me for most close ups. Added is the 55-300 4.5-5.6G zoom. These 3 all being Nikon lenses. I do quite a bit of landscapes and when that's my plan the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 will be on board.Feedback
I had in mind the mood I wanted to create with the burning candles. From there I just started shooting from various angles and heights (I'm short so my 2 step ladder is my best friend) constantly adjusting the ISO, and rearranging the position of the mask, the cup and the patch of Africa until I created the image I desired. This is truly a one time creative project so my chances of recreating it exactly is highly unlikely. My suggestion is to have in mind what you want the final image outcome to be. Then shoot and re-shoot until you get just what you want. Take lots of images so you have plenty to choose from. Get it done in one session while the inspiration and motivation is still running hot.
